Change Leads to Reflection

As my homily for this past Sunday showed, my upcoming change in assignment has led me to some reflection.  In my homily I mentioned some of the good things that happened in the parishes during my five years of service at St. Mary’s of the Lake and St. Benedict’s.  I have also been reflecting on what God wants me to do and how I can best accomplish that (see my homily on May 3, 2026 when I announced I would be moving and my article “Working For a Better Future”).     

One of my personal prayer practices is say one prayer a day that seeks God’s Will.  One of the prayers I often use is the Merton Prayer.  I like this prayer because of its expression of both wondering what God wants me to do and a sincere desire to do God’s Will.  Above all else, I want to do God’s Will even if I remain uncertain what His Will is.   

Another prayer that I use but struggle with is “Charles de Foucauld’s Prayer of Abandonment” (see my past reflection on this prayer).  While I truly desire to do God’s Will, one line in this prayer that I struggle with is “I am ready for all, I accept all.”  I wish this was true yet I have to admit I do not feel ready for all and I struggle to accept some things.  I need more grace for this.  What does it mean to “accept” something that is contrary to our faith? 

Last week, as I was praying about moving to another parish, I decided to look for other prayers relating to the topic of transition.  I found this prayer from St. Oscar Romero. 

It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. 
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, 
It is even beyond our vision. 
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction  
|of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work. 
Nothing we do is complete, 
Which is another way of saying that 
The Kingdom always lies beyond us. 
No statement says all that should be said. 
No prayer fully expressed our faith. 
No confession brings perfection. 
No pastoral visit brings wholeness. 
No program accomplishes the church’s mission. 
No set of goals and objectives includes everything. 
This is what we are about. 
We plant the seeds that one day will grow. 
We water seeds already planted, 
Knowing that they hold future promise. 
We lay foundations that will need further development. 
We provide yeast that produced effects far beyond our capabilities. 
We cannot do everything, 
And there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. 
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. 
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, 
A step along the way, 
An opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest. 
We may never see the end results, 
But that is the difference 
Between the master builder and the worker. 
We are workers, not master builders, 
Ministers, not messiahs. 
We are prophets of a future that is not our own. 
 

The tenth line of this prayer, “No prayer fully expressed our faith” expresses why I use different prayers at different times.  I would like to share with you what this prayer says to me today.  You might read this prayer and be struck very differently.  I might read it a year from now and have very different thoughts.  When we pray with an open heart, the Holy Spirit speaks to what we face in our lives today based on our experiences of the past.   

This is why, as St. Oscar Romero writes in the first line, “It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view.” 

This is where I find myself as I prepare to begin my new assignment at St. Louis Church in Pittsford, NY tomorrow, June 30^th, the 19^th anniversary of my ordination as a Roman Catholic priest.   

Even as a priest, I find it challenging to know what God’s Will for me is.  As St. Oscar Romero writes, “The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.”   

One thing I know for certain is that I am not God.  God is all-knowing.  In my limited humanity, I cannot see or know all that God knows.  The best I can do is to open myself in prayer and study to know and understand what I am meant to and to trust in God for the rest.  I can trust God because I have experienced his love as the Father sent Jesus to save us (see John 3:16-17) who willing lays down his life for us (see John 15:13). 

I want to fix everything but I have come to realize, in St. Oscar Romero’s words, “We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s Work.”  I might want to fix everything but God does not ask that of me.  He does not ask any one of us to do everything on our own.  He wants us to work together (see 1 Corinthians 12) for we are many parts yet one Body in Christ.  God then takes our individual efforts, brings them together, and multiples our efforts thirty, sixty, or a hundred-fold.  We might feel inadequate on our own but nothing is impossible for God. 

I want to accomplish everything I can and I want to accomplish it now.  When I was building or reconstructing highways and bridges as an engineer, we knew when a project was finished.  As a servant of the Lord, in the words of St. Oscar Romero, “Nothing we do is complete.”  The building of the Kingdom of God that we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer is not a once and done task.  It is an ongoing effort through many generations that continues until the Second Coming of Christ.  I need God to help me know what small part I am to play in his plan so that I might leave the rest to him. 

I would love to have the right words to offer the perfect expression of our faith but we must remember, as St. Oscar Romero continues, “No statement says all that should be said.”  The best we can do is ask the Holy Spirit to give us the right words to say at the right time (Luke 12:12). 

God does not expect us to be perfect.  He does expect us to be holy.  To be holy is to seek to do God’s Will. 

We might want to search for the perfect program to accomplish God’s Will.  Programs can be important tools, but they are just that, tools.  Success lies not in completing a program.  Success in doing God’s Will does not lie in finances or attendance numbers themselves.  These are important.  However, at the center of our ministries must be the people of God and providing them with an encounter with God.   

We can seek to establish a strategic plan with goals and objectives to guide our steps but it is not about the plan.  The plan is a tool to help us accomplish the Will of God.  The timing of when to accomplish each time of God’s plan is his, not ours.   

St. Oscar Romero prays, “We plant the seeds that one day will grow.  We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.”  I think of Jesus’ words in John 4:37, “One sows and another reaps.”  I ask in prayer if I am to be a sower or a reaper.  I think the answer is a little bit of both.   

Our mission begins by making Jesus our foundation.  We need a solid foundation to build upon or our work is washed away when a storm comes (see Matthew 7:24-27).  I have come to believe it is not my task to work on pulling everything together.  My calling is to share the faith to help people build their personal relationship with Jesus and to lead them to put their faith into action. 

In his prayer, St. Oscar Romero continues, “We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.”  The more I try to do everything, the more I struggle and feel like I have failed.  I am to guide while others do their part.  For instance, as I mentioned in my Sunday homily this week, at St. Mary’s and St. Benedict’s, we have completed a lot of needed work on our buildings and our cemetery properties.  I provided direction but I did not do all the work.  There are not enough hours in the day for me to do everything.  There is indeed a “sense of liberation” in knowing I do not have to do it all.  This has left me wondering what there is that I am trying to do that God is not asking of me.   

What I do is but “a step along the way.”  My ministry is one step in the plan God speaks of in Jeremiah 29:11.  God’s plan spans eternity.  Its ultimate fulfillment does not come until the Second Coming of Christ.  I may never see the final results of my efforts in my time on earth.  God asks me to trust him while I do my best and leave the rest in his hands.   

St. Oscar Romero ends his prayer with these words. 

“We are workers, not master builders, 
Ministers, not messiahs. 

We are prophets of a future that is not our own.”   

I am not the savior of the world, Jesus is.  I do not need to do his job.  I just need to do my part. 

I am one minister among many people.  I am not the messiah but I need to do what God asks of me. 

I must realize that what I seek may never be accomplished in my earthly lifetime but if it is God’s Will, it will come to pass.  Until then I need to do my part (and you need to do your part), nothing more and nothing less.    

I am not to build my own kingdom.  I am to seek God’s Will for unless the Lord is at the center of our ministry as the master builder, in vain do we build (Psalm 127:1). 

With my new assignment beginning tomorrow, I pray that my new assignment is God’s Will.   Then, if we all cooperate with His Plan, wonderful things will come. 

Peace, 

 Fr. Jeff